Sonnet CXXXI

Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art, As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel;For well thou know'st to my dear doting heartThou art the fairest and most precious jewel.Yet, in good faith, some say that thee behold,Thy face hath not the power to make love groan;To say they err I dare not be so bold,Although I swear it to myself alone.And to be sure that is not false I swear,A thousand groans, but thinking on thy face,One on another's neck, do witness bearThy black is fairest in my judgment's place.In nothing art thou black save in thy deeds,And thence this slander, as I think, proceeds.

The sonnet
is almost a continuation of the
previous one. In 130 he stresses that his mistress does not possess any
of the traditional beautiful attributes which are usually thought of as
belonging to 'the lovely fair', but here he maintains that she does
have
all the other powers that the Lauras of this world possess, powers to
make
the poor lover groan and suffer for her sake. The visual beauty is
therefore
not of the same intensity but the emotional tyranny is not in any way
diminished.
Finally he suggest that his lover's moral character is not of the
purest,
a suggestion which haunts him throughout the remainder of the series.

Many of the
traditional attributes of 'the beloved
fair' and the lover's reactions to them are here mentioned, often as a
contrast
with the supposed reality, and in the notes I point out the occasional
parallels
with Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella, the sequence of sonnets
to
Stella, an impossibly aloof beauty. The poems were of immense influence
at the time, (c. 1584) and the many echoes from them in these sonnets
show
us that Shakespeare must have been imbued with Sidney's thoughts and
language,
and with all the established conventions of sonneteering.

The 1609 Quarto Version

THou art as tiranous,ſo as thou art,
As thoſe whoſe beauties proudly make them cruell;
For well thou know'ſt to my deare doting hart
Thou art the faireſt and moſt precious Iewell.
Yet in good faith ſome ſay that thee behold,
Thy face hath not the power to make loue grone;
To ſay they erre,I dare not be ſo bold,
Although I ſweare it to my ſelfe alone.
And to be ſure that is not falſe I ſweare
A thouſand grones but thinking on thy face,
One on anothers necke do witneſſe beare
Thy blacke is faireſt in my iudgements place.
In nothing art thou blacke ſaue in thy deeds,
And thence this ſlaunder as I thinke proceeds.

Commentary

1. Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art,

tyrannous = behaving like a tyrant,
all powerful and merciless. The stony hearted and icy lover was the
recurring
element in all sonnet sequences. Petrarch's Laura was the archetype,
who,
although unmoved by his protestations, was still as adorable and and
magical
as on the day he first set eyes on her, despite her aloofness. Examples
are also to be found in Sidney's Astrophel and Stella: .........and now, like slave born Muscovite
Icall it praise to suffer tyranny. 2
and
................or am I born a slave,
Whose neck becomes such yoke of tyranny? 47.so as thou art = behaving as you do, taking
you as you are. The phrase
is more easily understood if taken with the next line: 'You are exactly
as those beauties etc.' It links in with the other odd uses of 'so' in
two
nearly adjacent sonnets, 127 and 129: Her eyes so suited, and they mourners seem 127
and Mad in pursuit, and in possession so. 129.
But perhaps just as telling is the link to the praise of the youth in
105,
for the contrast is not flattering to the dark lady: Since all alike my songs and praises be
To one, of one, still such, and ever so.
It is interesting to find this present sonnet concerning itself with
the
same concept of fairness as was explored in 105. Here the conclusion
could
not be more different.

2. As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel;

those
= those fair ones, those beautiful
women. proudly make them cruel = makes them behave
with cruel arrogance.
But, as SB points out, proudly also modifies those
whose beauies
suggesting that they are proud and aloof because they
know that they
are beautiful. Compare Sidney's Are beauties there as proud as here they be? Ast.
& S. 31.

3. For well thou know'st to my dear doting heart

For well thou know'st - an echo perhaps of All this the world well knows and yet well I know of the two previous sonnets. The combination of all these well known facts, known to all the world, contrasted with the helplessness of the individual when confronted with them, begins to set the scene for the portrayal of his total infatuation with his mistress. dear = precious to myself; perhaps also precious to you; costly to itself. doting = foolishly adoring. to dote is to love with foolish infatuation, and is most often used when criticism or ridicule of the person so afflicted is implied. Shakespeare uses it of himself again in 141: But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise, Who in despite of view is pleased to dote; ( i.e. his heart loves what his eyes despise). In Midsummer Night's Dream Lysander accuses Helena of foolishly loving Demetrius: .........................and she, sweet lady, dotes, Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry, Upon this spotted and inconstant man. MND.I.1.108-9. The model of love here typified is therefore somewhat removed from that traditionally associated with the writer of Petrarchan sonnets to his mistress, where the sacrifice and devotion is usually (but not always) betrayed as being more manly.

4. Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel.

fairest
= most beautiful, most noble
and just, most light coloured, i.e. not black.
most precious jewel = most valued and desired object. Compare
Othello's
praise of Desdemona:
If heaven would make me such another world
Of one entire and perfect chrysolite,
I'ld not have sold her for it. OTH.V.2.146-8.
In the world of courtly love the beloved fair was always as bright as
the
sun and as rare as the most precious jewel. Sidney also uses the
'cruel'
'jewel' rhyme in praise of Stella:
Have I caught my heavenly jewel,
Teaching sleep most fair to be?
Now will I teach her that she,
When she wakes, is too too cruel. Ast & S. Second
Song.

5. Yet, in good faith, some say that thee behold,

in
good faith - a mild oath, similar
to by heaven in the previous sonnet, and truly
in the next
one. The phrase could also be descriptive of what follows, i.e. 'It is
reported
also by some, (and they evidently believe what they say), that etc.'

If it is an oath, it
might well come into the category
of those ridiculed by Hotspur in Henry IV:
LADY
PERCY
Not mine, in good sooth. HOTSPUR
Not yours, in good sooth! Heart! you swear like a
comfit-maker's wife. 'Not you, in good sooth,' and
'as true as I live,' and 'as God shall mend me,' and
'as sure as day,'
And givest such sarcenet surety for thy oaths,
As if thou never walk'st further than Finsbury.
Swear me, Kate, like a lady as thou art,
A good mouth-filling oath, and leave 'in sooth,'
And such protest of pepper-gingerbread,
To velvet-guards and Sunday-citizens. 1H4.III.1.248-58.
Perhaps the paucity and femininity of the oath is meant to match the
dotingness
of the heart. Compare also 'to be sure' in line 9 below. that thee behold = of those that have observed
you.

6. Thy face hath not the power to make love groan;

Thy
face hath not the power = your
face is not of such beauty as to cause etc. This is the supposed
reported
speech of those who have observed her, and they have reported it 'in
good
faith'. They do not think she is a great beauty, sufficient enough to
turn
men's eyes. to make love groan - sighs and groans were the
inevitable accompaniment
to being in love, or at least to loving in the way that the sonneteer
loved
his beloved. The word occurs again in 133 Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan
but it is apart from that rare in these sonnets. The thought is however
implied in many other lines, and is traditional in sonnets, as for
example
in the following from Sidney to Stella: As good to write, as for to lie and groan.
O Stella dear, how much thy power hath wrought!. A &
S.40.
where clearly Stella does have the power to make love groan. (Strictly
speaking
it is the lover himself who groans, not love itself). See also the note
to line 10.

7. To say they err I dare not be so bold,

To
say they err = to say that those
who claim your face does not have power to make me groan are wrong I dare not be so bold = I dare not be so rash
and audacious (as to
contradict them). The suggestion here is that the world cannot be
entirely
wrong in saying that she cannot hold sway over men, or at least he is
not
prepared to openly contradict what seems to be an obvious fact.
Nevertheless
he has to reconcile this fact with the turmoil in his heart, and that
is
what he finds impossible. He is just as much racked with desire as if
she
were one of those of whom the world declared to be subduers of men's
souls.

8. Although I swear it to myself alone.

Although I admit in the secrecy of my heart
that you are as tyrannous and have just the power that those other
beauties
have to make lovers groan for you. You are just as fair (beautiful) as
they
are, and are just as cruel.

9. And to be sure that is not false I swear,

And
to be sure = and to assure myself.
Possibly the modern meaning of 'certainly, undoubtedly' is also
present,
although OED does not record that meaning before 1657, in the Book of
Common
Prayer. that is not false I swear = that what I swear
is not falsehood.

10. A thousand groans, but thinking on thy face,

A
thousand groans. - Hamlet in
writing to Ophelia speaks of his groans: 'O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers;
I have not art to reckon my groans: but that
I love thee best, O most best, believe it. Adieu.
HAM.II.2.119-121.
And Sidney, overcome by woe, seeks words to express his groans: WOE,
having made with many fights his own
Each sense of mine, each gift, each power of mind :
Grown now his slaves; he forced them out to find
The thoroughest words, fit for WOE's
self to groan.
A&S.
57.

but thinking on thy face = merely thinking
about you. Ostensibly
the thousand groans are doing the thinking, but one tends to read it as
an amplification of how the thousand groans came about. It was the
thinking
on the beauty of her face that caused them.

11. One on another's neck, do witness bear

One
on another's neck = thick and
fast, in hot pursuit of each other. The imagery is identical to that
used
in The Unfortunate Traveller, by Thomas Nashe,
(1594). 'Passion
upon passion would throng one upon another's neck'. See the
note by
GBE, p.249. Shakespeare evidently knew the work, and he is likely to
have
known Nashe, who possibly had a hand in writing parts of Shakespeare's
earlier
plays.
do witness bear - the subject is 'a thousand groans'. They
all testify
to the fact that the oath he makes to himself (that she is fair) is not
a false oath, and to the fact that, in his judgement, her darker
colours
are more beautiful than the fairness of a blonde beauty.

12. Thy black is fairest in my judgment's place.

Thy
black is fairest = your beauty,
though tinged with darker colours than those of the traditional fair
woman,
is still the most beautiful.
in my judgement's place = in my mind. The phrase is
reminiscent of'the
'seat of judgement' and suggests a courtroom setting, a hint which is
reinforced
by do witness bear and the references to swearing
in 8 and 9 above.
His mistress is effectively being put on trial for her misdemeanours.

thence
= from your deeds, as a result
of your deeds.
this slander = the accusation that you are not a fair beauty
who causes
men's hearts to groan. as I think - the parenthetical comment helps
to maintain the conversational
tone. But, as many commentators note, the suggestion that she is
morally
degenerate is rather more damaging to her reputation than the original
slander,
which other observers have made, that she is not entirely beautiful,
and
against which he is supposedly defending her. proceeds = results, derives from.